Why have an Open House? Do they work? What is the best time to have an Open House? How do I prepare for and Open House? Will I get feed back from my Open House? Will people come to my Open House? These are all questions you should ask the Realtor before you have an Open House. To have a successful Open House, make sure the agent holding your home Open is familiar with the neighborhood. Not only the neighborhood but, this agent should be familiar with the local schools, churchs, bus lines, shopping, x-ways, recreation and the builders who developed and built the neighborhood along with recent sales and homes that currently are on the market in a similar price range. It is important that the agent is an information center. The people who come to the Open House, come for a variety of reasons. Not everyone wants to buy today, some are just getting motivated to buy in the future. Some come for decorating ideas, and some are the neighbors, who are keeping up with prices and may know someone who may want to live in their neighborhood. The best buyers are the Transferees, and they are here for a variety of reasons. They might be in between jobs, have a job and are relocating from another state or city. Moving to be nearer to their family etc. How does a buyer prepare for looking at Open Houses? I feel that most know ahead of time if they are going looking on their own on Sundays, Generally without a Realtor. They start by first scouring the internet if they have access to a computer. Next, get the local Sunday Paper and go thru the Open House section first thing in the morning while drinking their coffee. They make a list of potenial homes then drive around, look at neighborhoods that are appealing to them. Go to brunch or church or both, then get ready to tour. This is why I always have my Open Houses from 2 to 4. You get more qualifed leads that way. Will I sell my home at the Open House? It depends on a few things. And yes, I have sold many homes at my Open Houses. To make that happen, some things must be just right, mainly, the price, neighborhood, condition, curb appeal etc. When I have a new listing, there is a lot of excitement, I am proud of it, and want to show it off as soon as possible. So I try to have it Open immediately. I will create a flyer, send out a mailer, make calls, post on local bulletin boards and have a enough signs to cover two major intersections to create the most traffic. And contact other agents who might be familiar with the neighborhood and sell in that price range. So, to sum it up, Open Houses work, but the Agent must prepare along with the Seller. The Agent and the Seller are a team,. There must be open lines of communication to have everything fall into place. I enjoy holding homes open and I enjoy meeting new people and giving them the right information. Timing is everything. My moto "Good things happen to Good People" John Romagnoli |